Perky Playoffs: Black Sox complete sweep

COLLEGEVILLE — So far in their best-of-five series, the Collegeville Black Sox haven’t met much opposition from eighth-seeded King of Prussia.

Wednesday night, on the other hand, was a bit different.

Though the Cannons went up 2-1 early, starter Scott Young regained his composure and helped the Black Sox pull out the brooms to sweep King of Prussia in their 3-2 comeback win.

“We scored that early run and things looked like it might be easy,” Collegeville manager Bob Letter said after the game. “Then A.J. (Koscelansky) settled into a groove for them.”

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The run letter was referring to was scored in the first. After Andrew Miller flew out to short to open the frame, Jon McGlone walked. Lenny Del Grippo’s groundout to the pitcher advanced McGlone, allowing him to score on Young’s RBI single.

Young cruised through the next inning before running into some trouble.

King of Prussia’s Josh Walcoby and Scott Seiple singled and Kyle Gaffney was plunked, loading the bases for Andrew Beshenich.

Beshenich delivered—roping a two-run double before Gaffney was tagged out trying to take third.

Collegeville bounced right back in the bottom half of the inning when Jon McGlone hit a shot to right that bounced off of the top of the fence for a home run.

Things stagnated until the fifth, when Jason Connor led off the inning and reached on an error. He stole second before Miller bunted him to third, and after McGlone flew out to shallow left in the next at-bat, Del Grippo stepped up to the plate.

Del Grippo, owner of a .364 batting average on the season and 28 runs batted in, was exactly the hitter that Collegeville wanted up.

He delivered—not with his muscle, but with his legs.

His ground ball to short died quickly in the thick-cut grass of Thomas field, and a hustling Del Grippo forced Cannon shortstop Gaffney to make an errant throw to first, which allowed Connor to score.

“We really didn’t do too much until we were down 2-1, Letter said. “Jonny came up big to tie the score, we got a little break on a tough ground ball. Lenny ran the ball out, and that was the difference in the game.

Young went on to retire the Cannons in seven batters over the last two innings. He finished with four strikeouts and scattered two hits in his complete game.

“He understands that he needs to go after hitters,” Letter said of Young. “He didn’t walk a batter until the second-to-last guy of the game. He was on cruise control the whole game.”

Letter continued, “You need guys that are able to do that, to step up.”

He also talked about the both the pros and cons of the four-day layoff that Collegeville will have before their next game.

“We’re a little older, we’ve got

a couple guys banged up,” Letter said. “It’s tough for the bats, but nice for the bodies. I’m sure the guys will hit between now and then, but you always wonder about the team you’ll play.”

“Are they going to be tired, or are they going to be focused?” Letter went on. “We’ve done it both ways. At this point, we’ll take the extra rest and line our pitching up for next week and be ready to go.”

Despite the loss, King of Prussia manager Chris Messmer had nothing but positive things to say about his Cannon team.

“I think the guys played well tonight,” Messmer said. “We can only get better from here. We made the playoffs. That’s a move in the right direction. We’ll be back next year, believe me.”

“We won two of our last three games to get in the playoffs, I think we did a great job,” Messmer said, talking about his team’s season on a whole. “I’ve got a great bunch of guys. The guys never gave up—that’s a big part of it.”

“I take it to heart.”

With Wednesday’s win, Collegeville advances to the semifinals and will play their next game Monday at home against an opponent yet to be decided.